


The Highlighter

by BachandBefore



Category: Original Work
Genre: F/M, Relationship Problems, Relationship(s), Sex, Supernatural Elements, movies - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-09
Updated: 2017-03-09
Packaged: 2018-10-01 08:55:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10185626
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BachandBefore/pseuds/BachandBefore
Summary: Why does he only want to watch that movie instead of paying attention to his girlfriend?





	

"...was _so_ cute," said Sadie, "I mean, not just regular-cute. Like...his atmosphere was cute. You know?"

"I think you mean like his aura."

"Sure. Yeah. Just...I wanted to jump on him and cuddle him."

Vera snorted at that. "If I jumped on Drew and cuddled him, he'd have me tested."

"Well, Jacob's different! He was, you know, like really smile-y, and sweet, and he'd just _look_ at me and I know he knew what I was talking about..."

"'Was?'"

Sadie scowled into her latte. "Yeah. Was."

Vera waited.

"We used to...like, the second he got home from work, he'd just scoop me up and we'd dive into bed," Sadie muttered, "And I miss it. We haven't even been together _that_ long."

" _That_ long?"

"You know! The type of 'we've been together a long time' that really means 'we're bored with each other and never do it anymore.' And I'm not gonna start doing those stupid magazine things," she added, "You know, those dumb articles that tell you what underwear to buy that will make your boyfriend start paying attention to you again."

"Guys don't even really notice underwear, anyway," Vera broke her biscotti into chunks, "They only care about the half-naked girl herself."

"Right. Exactly. And Jacob and I are beyond that stuff, anyway. We're not...that's why I liked him, I mean. Because we're not one of those stupid contrived couples right out of _Cosmopolitian._ We could really _talk_ about stuff. And really be _passionate_. You know."

"Yeah."

"Why do you keep looking out the window? This is kind of important!"

"Yeah. I know. I mean, it is for me, too."

The barista yelled out an order in the background.

"Did something happen with Drew?" Sadie wanted to know.

"Well...I mean, we never had, like, really big conversations anyway," Vera kept breaking up her biscotti, into little crumbs. "But I didn't care. I liked how I could just be quiet with him. It was...attentive silence. But then he just comes home after work, and goes right to the TV. And it's a different, bad silence at our place."

"All that Jacob will do is watch this same stupid movie he's seen a million times," complained Sadie, "That weird one that came out a few months ago on Netflix. _The Highlighter,_ I think it's called."

"Yeah, Drew watches a bunch of Netflix, too."

The espresso machine grated against their ears.

"Am I unattractive?" Sadie asked.

Vera looked up. "I thought you didn't care about that stuff."

"I _don't._ Look, I know I'm never gonna be a model. But, like...he never wants to...be like he used to, in bed."

"Sadie," Vera sighed, "I'm sure he still thinks you're attractive."

"I'm not getting fat or anything, right?"

"Excuse me?"

"Well-sorry. I mean, it doesn't matter, 'cuz Drew _likes_ your size! But I just don't think that _my_ boyfriend is really into, you know, bigger girls."

The corner of Vera's lip turned up a little. "He told me skinny girls are too flat."

"Who, Jacob!?"

"No, brick-brain. Drew." Vera was standing, tossing her bag over her shoulder. "I should probably get home."

Sadie didn't budge. "But what am I gonna do? Whenever I try to talk to him, one eye always rolls back to the TV."

Vera pursed her lips. "Tonight," she decided, "let's both take the power cords away from the TV and hide them. We'll tell Drew and Jacob that we'll only give the cords back when they _really_ talk, and we can figure out what's going on."

Now Sadie stood, gathering her things. "That sounds great."

　

"Your usual?" asked the barista.

"Please."

Sadie took her latte back to where Vera was dunking her biscotti into her Americano. "Well?" she demanded.

"Well, what?" asked Vera.

"You know. Our plan yesterday." Her jaw was set, and she was stiff in her chair. "I hope it went a little better for you than it did for me."

"What? Jacob didn't, like, yell or anything, did he?"

"No, he never would yell. But listen. I did what you said. I took the cord and I hid it in my purse. Then Jacob came home."

"And?"

"And we went right for the couch, and clicked the remote, and nothing happened. He clicked it a bunch more times. He went over to the TV and started fiddling with it and I didn't even need to see him frowning, confused. Then finally his voice came. 'Sadie, do you know what happened with the TV?'

"And I said, 'I took the cord. We're going to talk.' And he said 'ok.' And he sat on the couch and moved over so I could sit and looked at my face.

"'Do you love me?' I asked.

"'Of course I love you, Sadie,' he said back, and he could have added on _do you have to ask?_

"'Do you think I'm pretty?' I asked next.

"'Yes,' answered Jacob, 'I've always found you beautiful.'

"'Do you think I'm getting out of shape?

"'Sadie, there is nothing that would make me not be attracted to you. Why, did someone say something to you? Because I'm not going to let people talk about you like-'

"'No,' I told him, 'No one said anything. But we used to really connect, and be so passionate, and we'd have sex, like, five times a night, and now you only will come in and say hello and that's it before you go right to that movie. _The Highlighter._ You've seen it, like, fifty times by now!'

"'It's good,' he said, and shrugged.

"'But I'm _better._ You're missing out.'

"'Sadie,' he said, again, 'I don't have to miss out. There's more to spending time together than just sex. Sometimes I just want to relax. We could watch together, you know. It's a good movie. You'd like it.'"

Sadie stopped.

"And then what?" Vera wanted to know.

"And so I gave his stupid TV chord back, but I didn't watch with him." Sadie slouched in her chair. "And I listened to that same stupid movie _again,_ and was in our bedroom reading a book about a couple that actually _does_ stuff together."

"That movie does have a good soundtrack, though." Vera sipped her Americano.

Sadie shot up straight. "What the hell? You've seen it?"

"Yeah, it turns out that's what Drew was watching on Netflix. He told me last night. He told me to put the cord back and watch with him."

"And you...and that's it?"

"Yeah, sure. I mean, who cares? We don't have to have sex every single night. Sometimes I just like to watch a movie after work, too. And it _is_ a really good movie. _The Highlighter."_

Sadie's lips were smashed together.

"What?"

"That's not good enough."

"What do you mean?"

"It's not just 'sometimes.' It's ever single stupid night."

"It's not that big of a deal."

"Yes it is!" People were looking over. "It's _every_ night!"

"At least he's not going out to the bar and getting hammered."

"Ugh." Sadie pushed first her mug and then her chair aside, standing up and snatching her bag.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going home right now. I'm going to see what that stupid _Highlighter_ movie is."

"It is really good."

"Yeah, you've said." She shoved her way out the door.

　

Jacob came home later that night.

"Hey," his eyebrows raised to see Sadie sitting on the sofa, her spine vertical, staring at the screen. "You're home early."

The credits rolled. Sadie went back, ready to start the movie again.

"So what's up?"

"Just...watching a movie." The opening titles began to start.

"Oh, yeah? What movie?"

"Oh... _the Highlighter._ "

His face lit up, and he moved in to sit beside her, kicking off his shoes. "It is really good."

"Yeah. It's amazing. I mean...I'm sorry I..."

"Yeah," his voice was hushed, because the first scene was starting. And it was. Sadie sat there glued, her eyes wide, _still,_ even though she'd seen it three times already in one day. There was nothing more wonderful to her than the images of _the Highlighter_ dancing across the screen, with that music, all of it settling into the spaces of her brain, making itself at home. They sat there and watched all the way until the last note of the closing soundtrack, that fantastic soundtrack, and when it was done Sadie replayed it again.

 

 


End file.
